Seeds and Stuff - October 2019

We've had such a mild year that the seasons seem all out of sync to me.

The passiflora has been flowering for months and has given a lovely wall of colour against the green of the hedge.   

And until this year, I had no idea how much value cyclamen give to the garden - these have been flowering from the end of September and still going strong as I type this (end of December).   I know that they spread, so am hoping for more next year, but even if these ones don't spread, I think I may have to buy even more - such good value.

Odds and Sods - October 2019

It's shameful how behind I am with these posts - especially given that I genuinely cannot remember what happened two months ago!  I vaguely remember a holiday, but everything seems to be about Christmas and hunkering down since then.

And, to help me, the only two photos I can find to upload are these .....

Hopeless!!

Other People's Gardens - September 2019

The gardening work has taken off amazingly - I now have seven regular gardens to work in and a potential six new gardens starting in the new year - it's all a bit bonkers, but I'm so grateful.

Because the weather has been very strange this year - as evidenced by primroses flowering in September! - the gardening work hasn't really packed up and, in fact, as I type this, I have jobs booked right up until 20 December.   

I think this photo is just to show how knackered I am after a gardening job!  (Today, I've done two and could quite easily have a little sofa snooze!)

Stupidly, I didn't get any "before" photos in this garden - I filled up the brown bin and then filled up the compost area too with everything I cut down.   

This wild flower bed is basically just filled with fat hen - it took me two visits to get rid of it all and about five hours in total.   So rewarding and satisfying though when it's done and you see some real progress.   Unfortunately, I did disturb a lot of seed though as I was pulling it all up so my customer has already said I'll be pulling it all out again next year!  (That sounds to me like she's not sacking me any time soon!)

Now, this garden is actually Mum and Dad's and I wasn't doing any work this trip - Dad was building a three tier raised bed - he's 86!  I was only needed when anything needed to be lifted up.   Mostly, I was just trying to control Finn.

I love sedum.   This photo was obviously taken at the height of its flowering, but, since then, it's died right back but all the new growth is showing at ground level.  So I've cut it all back, dug it up and divided it and planted one clump back in the original place and three other clumps around the garden. Division and propagation is one of my most favourite garden jobs.

This injury isn't the worst one I've sustained while gardening, but the others have all been impossible to photograph, due to their location.   I'll say no more .....

And this is Mum and Dad's garden again - we moved some acers from pots in the back garden into the front garden and Mum and Dad have mulched it with bark chippings.   I can't wait to see the trees bloom in their new position.

Seeds and Stuff - September 2019

My garden has been rather neglected this year what with one thing and another.   The Alnwick Rose tends to look after itself though although it's been very leggy this year - I can't remember if I gave it the Christmas chop last year?  I have put it in my diary to do so this year and fingers crossed it's a bit more bushy next year!

Odds and Sods - September 2019

Finn and I have had some lovely walks in September, albeit quite short walks.

We have sort of given up on our favourite Hockering and Mattishall walk - the seven miler is too long, the four miler is fraught with anxiety as Finn has become very nervous of loud noises and frequently bolts when the bird scarers or guns go off, and the walk the other side of the A47 is quite stony and the last time we did it, Finn got something in his paw and was limping quite badly.  It's all a bit of a disaster!  I haven't given it up just yet, I just have to hope that the conditions are better the next time we try it.

I've had my new winter haircut - in the summer, my hair is easy as I just tie it up out of the way.  But in the winter, I can't actually tie it up AND get it under a hat, so it had to go!

I've sold a few of my things on Folksy and as commissions.  This is a Norwich City scarf made for a season-ticket holder friend who requested a longer, thicker and warmer scarf for wearing at home games over the winter.   So pleased is she with it, that potentially I'm making three more for her family members, just waiting for the nod to order the wool.

I have been the butt of jokes of friends and family as I vent my frustration about things not being made to last - these pyjamas are fifteen years old now and have a bloody great hole in them.   I'm not that sentimental about my clothes but I had this pair in my camper van, Dizzy, when I had my big walking adventure in 2005 so I AM rather sentimental about this pair.   I'm trying to work out how I'm going to patch them!

Mum and I recently visited a plant fair and Mum has decided she'd like something like this painted on the chimney pot she has - Shannon take note, this one has your name all over it!

Finn and I have been down to the west country for a weekend with Andy in the caravan - our walks were very truncated though - due to weather and a flock of wayward sheep that kept escaping onto our usual walking route - tricky!

Hares

A few years ago, Mary came up to Norfolk and we spent a couple of days wandering around Norwich in search of dragons!   Every few years, the organisation Wild in Art put on an art trail around various cities around the world and Norwich has been blessed to have hosted a number of these - so far we've had elephants, gorillas and dragons.  

Last year, as we were having a hares art trail, I asked Sam if she'd like to come up for a few days and do the trail with me, in Mary's memory.   This time though, we took three days to do them all and I'll post each day's adventures separately.  This post is really just about the organisation and I've thrown in a few photos of hares outside of Norwich that weren't included in our list!

When Mary came up for the dragons, I thought it would be fun to give her a souvenir of her trip up here for her birthday so I was delighted to discover that the organisers and Break, the recipient charity, were producing a sticker book!   This had me probably more excited than I should be!   So I felt that I really ought to do the same for Sam's birthday too - so I purchased the hare sticker book and started collecting my stickers - this time though, I got involved with sticker swops too which was even more exciting.  Facebook is a wonderful thing!

This is Horatio - I think!   I am rubbish at names.   I found this one in Wymondham and, interestingly, he's still there, in the market place, two years later.  Most of the hares were auctioned off for charity to private organisations and individuals, so it's lovely to see that some have been bought by the locations they were originally homed in and we can still see them.

Mmmmm, actually I think this one might be Horatio - he certainly seems more nautical than the first one.  (I might have to borrow Sam's sticker book for the names!)  This one is outside a pub on the Broads, but, never paying enough attention, that's as vague as it gets.   I know there's a micro brewery there also - Woodfordes?  Does that sound right?

No idea what this one's called, but I know he was definitely at Wroxham Barns and seems to have a cheeky little hippo and elephant to keep him company!

And this one was definitely outside John Lewis!

Getting ready to send some swops off - with the dragons sticker book, I did all my swops with a young lad called Peter - he was six years old!  (He was the son of Amanda's colleague, and everything was very easy.)  This time, it was all a bit more fraught as I was having six or seven FB conversations with people and promising a certain number to one person, who then turned out to have already swopped with someone else as I was so late getting involved.   It's quite a stressful occupation!

And here are the trail maps in readiness for Sam's arrival - is it wrong to be so excited about these things at my age?!!